Penguins-Flyers: Scott Hartnell: Definition—See Also: Joke

The Pittsburgh Penguins extended their season-long winning streak to five games with a 5-4 shootout win over the Philthadelphia Cryers on Thursday night. The Pens remain undefeated in the month of November.

Recap

The first period brought the usual aggression of a Penguins-Flyers game. Sidney Crosby and Kimo "they call me Gordie in Philly" Timonen both took early penalties but neither team was able to capitalize on the man advantage.

At 7:06 of the first, Kris Letang made one of the very few solid breakout passes by a Penguin this season. He hit Tyler Kennedy at the blue line with the pass. Kennedy gained the zone and moved the puck to Matt Cooke on the left wing.

Cooke released a quick wrist shot that snuck through under French Toast's arm for Cooke's first goal as a Penguin. 1-0 Pens.

The two teams once again traded power play chances, with neither being able to put a puck in the net.

Just over a minute into the second frame, Evgeni Malkin grabbed the metaphorical bull by the horns. Malkin soared into the offensive zone, beating two Flyer defensemen, flipped the puck to his backhand and offered Biron a little Maple Syrup to go with his French Toast. 2-0 Pens.

Two minutes later, Sidney Crosby said, "I'll see your backhand goal" as he continued his hot streak by going top shelf on Biron. 3-0 Pens.

Three goal leads have become the new two goal leads in the NHL this year. FSN showed a graphic of three goal leads that have been erased this season. It boasted seven or eight occasions.

The Flyers took their first hack at the Pens lead with a Jeff Carter goal at 7:46 of the second. 3-1 Pens.

If you look up "Scott Hartnell" in the dictionary, you will be referenced to the page that includes the word "joke". Hartnell took a cheap shot on Petr Sykora behind a play and gave the Pens a power play.

On the power play, Alex Goligoski did his best Ben Roethlisberger impression and turned the puck over. Actually his shot was blocked by Gagne at the point, but I had to find a way to get the Roethlisberger jab in there.

Besides, Goli-turnover-ski has looked like he belongs back in the AHL over the past two games. His offensive abilities are tops among Penguins' blue liners right now, but he can't skate backwards to save his life, something that a defenseman should probably be pretty decent at.

Gagne scored shorthanded to cut the Pens' lead to 3-2.

At 12:31, Luca Sbisa took a hooking call and sent the Pens back on the power play. The Flyers responded by scoring yet another shorty to even the score at three.

Joffrey Lupul, who has scored more goals against the Penguins than any other team in his NHL career, added another marker with four seconds remaining in the period to give the Flyers a 4-3 advantage.

Michel Therrien shook things up in the third period when he pulled Marc-Andre Fleury in favor of Dany Sabourin. Sabou would once again prove his worth as the Flower's backup.

The Flyers went into New Jersey Devil mode in the third period. They shut down the neutral zone and dumped the puck in on almost every offensive possession.

It was a tight checking period, but the Flyers weren't mounting much offense to try to extend their lead.

Finally at 17:27, Malkin charged a Flyer behind Biron and forced a turnover. Max Talbot picked up the loose puck and found Sid in front of the net. Crosby buried his second goal of the game to tie it at four.

The teams exchanged chances in overtime, but both goaltenders stood their ground to force the game into a shoot-out.

Before the shoo-out started, Hartnell was giving his teammates instructions from the bench. Here's a word of advice: If Scott Hartnell is giving you goal scoring advice, cut your ears off and throw them at him.

The Pens sent out Alex Goligoski as their sixth shooter. Gogo swooped in on Biron, went to the backhand, then the forehand, then back to the backhand and snuck the puck behind French Toast.

In the worst decision of his life, John Stevens sends out Scott Hartnell with the game on the line. Shoot-outs don't involve cheap shots and there are no players in front of the net for the puck to bounce off of, so Hartnell was pretty much prematurely eliminated from scoring a goal.

"I was distracted by the herpes on my lower lip, gimme a break."

Hartnell came in on Sabou, made one of the worst attempts at a deke in the history of hockey, and failed to even get a shot off before toppling over the goaltender.

GAME

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has just left the building.

Final Score: Pittsburgh 5 Philthadelphia 4 (SO)

Goligoski and Orpik probably accounted for 90 percent of the Penguins' turnovers in this game. Nobody will remember Gogo's lackluster performance because of the shoot-out winner, so that's probably a good thing for him.

Mark Eaton turned in a solid effort tonight after being a healthy scratch for the last few games.

The Pens haven't lost in November.

Malkin's two points moved him to within one of Semin for the NHL points lead.

Bold move by Therrien to go with Sabou in the third, but it paid off, as usual. Therrien seems to know exactly which buttons to push with this team. Badger Bob would be proud.

Talbot has been on fire in November and picked up another point tonight.

Malkin took a nasty spill along the boards in the third period. Bob Errey said it best: "That would have been the end of any normal person's knee". Malkin is a beast, he didn't miss a shift.

If the Flyers played 60 minutes of shorthanded hockey on a nightly basis, they might be above .500.

I hear Jimmy Rollins is looking for a job during the offseason. He has a decent glove hand...look out Marty.

The Pens host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday and the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday so it's only going to get tougher from here.